“All right.” Web handed over a cooler, one with the usual biohazard signs on it. “You’re all set. Get out, get the samples, come home without letting anyone know you aren’t CMS.”
“If you do get arrested, your one call needs to be to Dragos. He’ll mobilize the psychics to come and rescue you.” Inigo flopped down onto a chair. “Now get out before I have a heart attack.”
“Huh. I should have thought of bringing one of Lore’s people,” Greer muttered as they left the lab. “They could have made this a hell of a lot easier.”
“Me too.” She’d been so busy doing her research and setting up the raid that she hadn’t thought to ask for a little psychic help. “Too late now, unless we want to wait and risk not getting the samples.”
Noah pressed the elevator’s call button. “Nope. Let’s get this done.”
Iva shook her head as she followed Noah and Greer into the elevator. “You’d think they were the ones going.”
“Nope. But they’ve got a lot to lose if we get caught, including their license to practice medicine for aiding and abetting theft and impersonating members of the CDC,” Greer replied somberly. “So I kinda understand some of their nerves.”
“True.” Iva leaned back against the wall of the elevator, watching the numbers go down. “This should be a piece of cake.”
“It should, but the best laid plans always fall apart on contact with the enemy, so stay sharp.” Noah shot her a harsh glare. “You should have told me about this, not Paisley.”
“You weren’t supposed to come. People will remember you. You’re too—” she gestured to all of him “—you to blend in.”
He stared at her, his grim expression turning into that stupid male smirk he sometimes wore. “I see.”
“Do you?” Iva stepped into Noah’s space. “Don’t you trust me to take care of myself?”
“Of course,” he replied stiffly. “I just prefer you do it while I watch.”
The sheer, sleeping power of the alpha wolf made her shiver. “Just being near you, people will remember you. Power rolls off of you. It’s like trying to hide Darth Vader in a Denny’s.”
Greer coughed into his fist. Then he breathed in noisily and intoned through his fist, “Luke, those are my pancakes.”
“Ugh.” Men. “Never mind.”
Noah tugged her close. “It’s a three-hour drive there and back again, so let’s not fight. Paisley did the right thing telling me about today. I did the right thing by showing up in an actual suit instead of cargo shorts and flip-flops, because fuck it’s hot out there. You did the right thing by getting the ball rolling and coming up with a way to find where Peter gets his lab work done in the first place.”
“Yay, we’re all winners here! Gold star for everyone.” Greer beamed at them.
Iva cocked her eyebrows. “Would you feel the same way if Mollie was here?”
“Please, gurl.” Greer waved his hand dismissively. “My woman can do cold official with the best of them. They’d be yes ma’am, no ma’am, would you like that coffee with a side of cyanide, ma’am, that’s how much they’d want her gone.”
Noah grinned as the elevator doors opened. “And all they’d remember is a stuck-up asshole in a too-big suit ordering them around.”
Hmm. Maybe Greer had the right idea. Lightening the mood seemed to be easing the earlier tension admirably. “Damn, maybe we should have brought her along.” Iva chuckled. “She’s never been anything but nice to me.”
Greer rubbed his arms. “She was the ice queen to me for a long time.”
“Well, I’m glad she’s warmed up to you.” Iva strode ahead of them out of the medical facility and into the blazing August sun.
Greer caught up to her and looped her arm through his. “I gotta tell you, when that woman warms up, my pants go up in flames.”
Iva pretended to groan in envy. “Man, I have to get the lint roller out to get the fur off of mine.” Iva struggled to bite back a laugh when Noah growled.
“Look on the bright side,” Greer said, opening the passenger door of Noah’s freakishly huge SUV. “At least you still have pants.”
“True.” She tilted her head, pretending to ponder fur-covered leg coverings. “And it’s no big deal if I get hair on my psuedo-penis.”
Noah, who’d just been sliding behind the wheel, nearly fell out of the car. Greer did fall out, as he was reaching for his door to close it behind him.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Noah climbed in shakily and started the ginormous SUV. It purred to life, startling her. She’d expected a much louder sound to come from it.
“Tell me you haven’t been surfing Wikipedia again,” Greer groaned as he climbed into the backseat.
“It’s amazing what you can learn there,” Iva breathed in awe. “Once I went from trying to find out what a Dutch baby pancake was to fisting in three clicks.” Noah appeared ready to choke to death. She pounded him on the back and continued speaking. She was having way too much fun to stop now, even if her mate was about to asphyxiate on his own tongue. “But no, that’s not where I learned that. Some scientists, probably men, believe that the clitoris is a vestigial penis, with all the nerve endings associated with a penis concentrated into that tiny little pea shape. The only difference is that we don’t pee from our clitoris, of course. The urethra is behind it.”
“Of course,” Noah mumbled, pulling out of the parking lot and heading for the highway. He’d finally stopped coughing, and his eyes were no longer watering.
That was her cue to continue. “Which means, if they’re right, that every time a man sucks on a woman’s clit, he’s actually—”
“Lalalalalalala,” came from the backseat. Greer had his fingers in his ears and his eyes tightly shut. Was he afraid she’d show him diagrams? Pie charts? Anatomically correct dolls?
“Oh my God,” Noah moaned.
“Yup. Y’all are sucking on micro-dick.”
“Isn’t this fun?” Greer banged his head against the back of his seat. “Aren’t you glad you came, Noah?”
Noah groaned. “Please don’t mention coming right now.”
This time it was Greer who groaned. “Great. Didn’t I say I wasn’t into your hairy ass? Now all I can think about is alpha love juice.”
“What? It is a long trip. Was there something you wanted to talk about? Because I thought I’d get dick out of the way first thing.” Iva leered at them, finally laughing when their horrified expressions registered. “Man, you two are so frickin’ easy.”
Her ploy to ease any tension between the three of them had worked. Noah was relaxed and smiling, Greer was staring out the window with a grin on his face, and Iva didn’t have to fight with her mate over his high-handed ways. It was win-win.
Besides, she’d get even with him later for barging in on her op.
“What’s the plan once we get there? Other than pretending to be CM-whatevers, of course.” Noah flicked his badge with his finger. “Also, remind me later to inform Paisley that she’s only to use her powers for good.”
“Yes, dear.” Iva patted his leg. The heat between them was blistering when they allowed it to burn. With Greer in the back seat, watching them curiously, there wasn’t much more she could do than show Noah that she was trying.
He put his hand over hers, the other firmly grasping the steering wheel. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
“Damn straight,” Greer piped up cheerfully. “You’ll be saying it a lot, too, alpha or not, so get used to it.”
Noah nodded thoughtfully. “My parents had an equal mating. In the pack my father led and my mother followed, but in the home, she ruled the roost. No one questioned it.”
“Your mother wasn’t the leader of anything but your family.” Greer moved until his face was between theirs. “Iva, on the other hand, is the one who takes over if anything happens to Min
a before her child is ready to become the new queen.”
“Mina won’t reproduce, remember? Dragos is a vampire.” Noah darted a glance at Iva. “You didn’t tell me that about you.”
Uh-oh. She’d just gotten them to relax and now this. “That I was second in command? No, it’s not common knowledge, but I thought Mina had told you.” Iva squeezed Noah’s thigh. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Noah kept his eyes on the road, but his tone was reassuring even if his expression remained thoughtful. “They told me. You’re the Mind, which gives you awesome research abilities, but that’s all I know.”
She exchanged a quick glance with Greer. “The heart, the soul, the hand and the mind of the forest. We all have nifty titles to go with those positions, right? Like Ash is both the hand and the Guardian, Mina is the soul and the Queen, Greer is the heart and the Singer.”
“Yes,” Noah drawled, obviously waiting for her to finish her thought.
She doubted he truly understood. The link between the ruling dryads and their forest was as infinite as time and as simple as a bee. “That means that Ash is our strongest fighter, Greer can sing and heal, but he’s also our assassin. A heart can be hardened against enemies.”
Noah nodded.
“Queen Mina, the forest’s soul, brings us all together under her branches, but she’s also a bad-ass in her own right. She has magic none of the rest of us does. When something attempts to harm us, she holds us together.”
“I get that. I’ve seen her magic, and I’ve seen Ash fight.” Noah glanced in the rear-view mirror. “And I found out about Greer after he killed Blake’s dad ninja-style.”
“Hmph.” Greer rolled his eyes. “At this point everyone knows what my true role is.”
“Nope.” Noah shook his head. “Only the rulers do. Your secret’s safe with us.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to kill you in your sleep.” Greer smiled, and Iva shuddered.
When Greer smiled like that, someone was fixing to die.
“So what is Iva’s title?” Noah kept his gaze on the road but she had more than half his attention.
“Scholar.” Iva grimaced. “Lame, but true.”
“Not lame at all.” Noah brushed his free hand across her cheek. “How does the Mind work? Why Scholar as a title?”
“Iva grasps things that the rest of us don’t. She can pick up facts like you or I pick up rocks and remember them for as long as the rock lives.” Greer moved back, settling into his seat once more. “I, for one, will never play Trivial Pursuit with her again.”
“Loser.” Iva put her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead, mocking Greer and his loserness.
Noah stiffened. “Then that voice—”
“Is new,” Iva interrupted. She didn’t want there to ever be any doubt about that. “The forest doesn’t speak to me that way. I just...know things, like the answer pops into my mind when I’m asked a question, especially if it has to do with the forest or my guardianship of its inhabitants. And that includes you.”
He was quiet after that.
Ah well. So much for easing the tension.
Chapter Sixteen
Noah pulled into the parking lot of the Van Helsing–run laboratory and got the closest spot he could. He wanted to be able to take off the moment they got to the car. “Are you ready for this?”
“You’re the one going in first, so are you ready?” Greer let himself out first.
“Yes.” Noah got out without another word, moving around the car to help Iva out.
Iva was already climbing out by the time Noah reached her. He wanted, badly, to put his arm around her and lead her inside, but that wasn’t appropriate. Hell, it could give the whole game away.
She smiled gamely up at him and poked him in the arm. “C’mon, big guy. We’re up.”
Yes, they were. Noah marched into the building that held the lab that was currently in possession of Peter Bradley’s bodily fluids. He had no idea if they’d find blood, urine, or semen, but they planned on walking away with at least one of the three.
He hit the button for the fourth floor after verifying the lab’s location from the directory on the wall. He kept thinking something was going to go wrong. Maybe it was foolish, a residual anxiety left over from when he’d found Iva on that gurney, unconscious and half-dead, but he couldn’t shake it for the life of him.
He put his game face on as the elevator doors opened. Several people got off, a couple of them giving their group startled glances. He hoped it was because of the CMS badges and not because their cover had already been blown. He stepped into the elevator, Greer and Iva right behind him.
“Hmm. Not happy about that.” Greer spoke quietly even after the elevator doors had closed.
Noah nodded. “Any idea what might have gotten us those looks?”
Greer shrugged. “Not sure, but be on guard. I’m pretty sure we’re heading into an ambush.”
Iva groaned. “Lovely. Just lovely. I’ve always wanted to be ambushed. Oh, wait, didn’t that happen last time with Gross Skeleton Thing?”
“You totally capitalized that in your head, didn’t you?” Greer started laughing. “She used to do that all the time when we were kids. Everything nasty had capitals and it was obvious in her speech.”
Noah tried not to laugh. “Be serious, you two, or I swear I won’t stop for ice cream on the way home.”
They both shut up, standing at attention as they watched the elevator reach the fourth floor. Man, it was like dealing with Sana and Milo but with better vocabularies.
They stepped off the elevator and approached the glass doors marked Definitive Diagnostics. Noah opened them and headed right for the front desk. “Nick Thomas, CMS.” He pointed to Iva and Greer. “This is Irene Morimoto and Grady Hicks. We’re here for the inspection.”
“Paperwork,” the man said, holding out his hand. His expression was so bored Noah was surprised he wasn’t asleep.
Noah extracted the paperwork from his suit pocket. Paisley had given it to him that morning before heading over with the badges to Inigo’s office. “Someone should have called ahead—”
“Yeah, yeah. Paperwork.” The man actually yawned with his hand still held out.
Noah scowled and slapped the paperwork in the man’s hand.
The sleepy clerk glanced at the paperwork superficially, barely glancing at it. “Through the door, down the hall, last door on the right.”
Noah nodded sharply and followed the man’s directions, heading toward the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the man pick up the phone and begin dialing.
It could be nothing, but... “Eyes open, people.”
Greer smiled but said nothing.
Iva took one look at Greer and shivered. Noah had no idea what that was about, but it meant something to Iva so Noah made note of it.
Noah strode down the hall, all of his senses on alert. He could smell blood, chemicals, disinfectant and...
Damn. Gunpowder. This lab had armed protection. Hopefully their cover stories would work until they got the hell out of here.
“We’re being watched.” Iva somehow spoke while barely moving her lips.
Lovely. Were their covers blown, or was that standard procedure? There were small dark bubbles on the ceiling in the corners of the corridor, so the concealed cameras weren’t quite so concealed. There was a slight film of dust over them. They must have been there for a while, then. Well, watch the boring show of the CDC doing a compliance check. Hope you get fired once they figure out what we’ve done, assholes.
Last door on the right. Noah opened it slowly, prepared for an attack.
“Nick Thomas, right?” A cheery voice called from inside the room. “Come on in. We’re all ready for you.”
“I just bet they are,” Greer mumbled.
&nb
sp; Iva strode past them, her back straight, a scowl on her face. “Irene Morimoto, CMS. I’m here to perform the inspection. These are my colleagues, Nick Thomas and Grady Hicks.”
A man in a white lab coat strode forward, holding out his hand. “Carl Simmons. I’m the head lab tech here.”
Iva took his hand, her expression still stern. “Excellent. Let’s get this show on the road so I can get out of here. Between you and me, my heels are killing me.”
Simmons laughed. “Sorry I can’t relate, but my back hurts and it’s barely after noon.” He took hold of Iva’s arm and led her into the lab. “Let me show you around, Ms. Morimoto.”
“Thanks.”
“I think you’ll find that our machines are in top working order...” Simmons droned on but Noah tuned him out. Iva had him well in hand.
He turned to another lab tech, who gulped. He’d been briefed on his role, and he was merely a distraction while Greer did the real job of getting to the fluid samples. “I’d like to watch the testing procedures, if you don’t mind.” He took out his tablet PC and began tapping. He had some official-looking mock-ups of the paperwork he’d need to check off as he observed the procedures.
The tech nodded. “We can start with a basic metabolic panel, if you like.”
Noah waved his arm. “Lead the way.”
“Hi, I’m Grady,” Greer said to charm the last lab tech. “Guess you get to show me where the storage facilities are.”
“I guess so.” The lab tech didn’t seem to be falling for Greer’s allure. If anything, she seemed annoyed. “Follow me, Mr. Handy.”
“Hicks,” Greer corrected cheerfully.
“Sure, whatever.” The lab led Greer out of the room. “We have our refrigeration units just down the hallway.”
Noah stopped paying attention to Greer and acted as inspectoral as he could. There was no place for nerves while he waited for Greer to get back. He just hoped Greer figured out how to distract the lab tech, get the samples and signal that he was ready to go before Noah and Iva were done their inspection.
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